Bob Dylan All the Songs
Page 50
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
After working with John Hammond, Tom Wilson, Bob Johnston, and Leon Russell, this is the first time that Bob Dylan produced of one of his songs!
1971 Outtake
Recorded as a B-side the same day that Dylan recorded “George Jackson,” “Wallflower” was released twenty years later as part of The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3.
Wallflower
Bob Dylan / 2:49
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Ben Keith: pedal steel guitar; Leon Russell: bass; Kenny Buttrey: drums, tambourine / Recording Studio: Columbia Recording Studios / Studio B, New York: November 4, 1971 / Producer: Bob Dylan / Sound Engineer: Don Puluse / Set Box: The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3: Rare & Unreleased, 1961–1991 (CD 2) Release Date: March 26, 1991
“A sad song,” Bob Dylan said once about “Wallflower.” The song made an impression on Patti Smith, as she recalled, “I always wanted to dance with boys and nobody ever asked me to dance, I had to wait for ladies’ choice… I was so pathetic. But Bob understands that, ’cos he wrote the song ‘Wallflower.’”52 “Wallflower” and “George Jackson” were recorded during the same sessions on November 4, 1971. Dylan described the day in the notes for The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3: “The worst time of my life, when I tried to search for the past, when I went back to New York for the second time. I didn’t know what to do. Everything had changed. I tried to write and sing at the same time and sometimes that drove me crazy.”25 “Wallflower” is certainly a minor song in Dylan’s vast repertoire. But its country atmosphere, enhanced by Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar, is highly successful. A few months later, Doug Sahm recorded “Wallflower” with Dylan doing backup vocals (Doug Sahm and Band). Unfortunately, there is too much compression on the version on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
In Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, Michael Krogsgaard mentions only one take on November 4, 1971. However, it was released on The Bootleg Series Volume 10 in a very good alternative version, with just Dylan performing vocals, guitar, and harmonica, and Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar. Highlight: a shared solo between harmonica and steel guitar!
Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II:
A Compilation with Unreleased Tracks
Watching The River Flow
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
Lay, Lady, Lay
Stuck Inside Of Mobile
With The Memphis Blues Again
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
All I Really Want To Do
My Back Pages
Maggie’s Farm
Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You
She Belongs To Me
All Along The Watchtower
Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
If Not For You
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Tomorrow Is A Long Time
When I Paint My Masterpiece
I Shalll Be Released
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
Crash On The Levee
(Down In The Flood) [inédit]
RELEASE DATE
November 17, 1971
on Columbia Records
(REFERENCE 2 467 851 COLUMBIA / CBS 6723)
The Album
The double LP Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II, available on November 17, 1971, is mainly composed of titles already released on other albums. However, the album includes—in addition to a new version of “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” (discussed in The Witmark Demos) and “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” (analyzed in The Basement Tapes)—three unreleased tracks: “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” “I Shall Be Released,” and “Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood),” which are among Dylan’s best.
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Bob Dylan / 3:22
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar; Leon Russell: piano; Jesse Ed Davis: guitar; Don Preston: guitar; Carl Radle: bass; Jim Keltner: drums, percussion (?) Recording Studio: Blue Rock Studio, New York: March 16–19, 1971 / Producer: Leon Russell
Genesis and Lyrics
“When I Paint My Masterpiece” marks Bob Dylan’s comeback only a few months after the release of the controversial Self Portrait. Not coincidentally, the narrator of the song walks the streets of Rome, at the center of the ancient ruins where Dylan found inspiration in 1965 and subsequently wrote the luminous “Like a Rolling Stone.” After spending a night moping, the narrator has a rendezvous with Botticelli’s niece who “promise[s] that she’d be right there with me / When I paint my masterpiece.”
Clinton Heylin drew a parallel between the hero of “When I Paint My Masterpiece” and Dick Diver, one of the key figures in Tender Is the Night, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Both are fascinated by Old Europe. But for Dylan, as often, another interpretation is possible. In the revised version of the Rolling Thunder Revue (1975–1976), Dylan sings, “Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!” Is it irony or, possibly, just homesickness? Presumably far from the madding crowd and flashes of reporters, and after being inspired by his muse, the artist felt free to create a new masterpiece in the green landscape of Woodstock.
Production
According to Rob Bowman, who wrote the liner notes for the 2000 reissue of the Band’s album Cahoots, Robbie Robertson asked Dylan if he had a song that could fit into the new record that the group was making. Thus “When I Paint My Masterpiece” was written quickly and became one of the main songs on Cahoots, first released on September 15, 1971.
Dylan had recorded the tune six months before the release of Cahoots. This bluesy ballad featured the talented band of Leon Russell, the same group of musicians who accompanied Dylan on his single “Watching the River Flow.” Once again, Jesse Ed Davis shines throughout the song, providing very inspired acoustic guitar, played with a bottleneck. Don Preston plays an excellent rhythm guitar part. Clinton Heylin mentions Chuck Blackwell on drums, but it is most likely Jim Keltner, who is probably also playing tambourine and shaker. Eleven tracks were recorded. A demo of “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” with Dylan singing and playing piano, appears on Another Self Portrait. It is a beautiful version, and its simplicity accentuates the sense of the lyrics. The song was not released as a single, but appeared on the compilation Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II, released in 1971. Dylan performed the song for the first time onstage at the War Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts, October 30, 1975, as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
During the tribute concert celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Bob Dylan’s career, the Band performed “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”
I Shall Be Released
Bob Dylan / 3:04
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Happy Traum: guitar, vocal harmonies Recording Studio: Columbia Recording Studios / Studio B, New York: September 24, 1971 Producer: Bob Dylan (?) / Sound Engineers: Doug Pomeroy and P. Darin
Genesis and Lyrics
In “I Shall Be Released,” Bob Dylan was perhaps inspired by “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash and “The Banks of the Royal Canal” by Brendan Behan (incidentally recorded during The Basement Tapes, 1967). But the prison Dylan refers to has no locks on the doors and no window bars. In the 1970s, Dylan said, “The whole world is a prison. Life is a prison, we’re all inside the body… Only knowledge of either yourself or the ultimate power can get you out of it… Most people are working toward being one with God, trying to find him… From the minute they’re born, they want to know what they’re doing here.”66
Here we have one explanation, but there is another one. At a concert in 1990, Dylan said this song dated back to his “years of imprisonment”—meaning the period during which he had been locked into folk music (before his release at the Newport Folk Festival) or the period before his 1966 accident. It is Tom Robinson’s idea, speaking in 2005 to Mojo, that “in ‘I Shall
Be Released’ he’s talking about being in prison but perhaps in prison of other people’s expectations.”
There are actually many other interpretations. For Rolling Stone magazine, this song reflects Dylan’s desire to use simple lyrics and short lines to deal with complex issues. It may still be a metaphor for the star system, as the first verse suggests, “Of ev’ry man who put me here / I see my light come shining,” and the passage from life to death (this light he sees shining). Or it may be a reflection on alienation and salvation, injustice and redemption, recurring themes in Dylan’s work. Many Vietnam veterans saw in the text a reference to their comrades who did not return. And despite the metaphorical meaning of the text, it can be understood as the story of an innocent imprisoned, only to be released by his execution. This is primarily a message of hope that is universal.
Production
“I Shall Be Released” is another Dylan song recorded by the Band. It appears on their masterful debut album Music from Big Pink, released on July 1, 1968. Moreover, the first recording was made in collaboration with the Band during The Basement Tapes sessions, released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 in 1991 and on The Bootleg Series Volume 11: The Basement Tapes Complete in 2004.
The second version, entirely acoustic, was recorded on September 21, 1971. The songwriter is alone with Happy Traum and his acoustic guitar. Happy Traum was a “regular” from the Village who participated late in 1962 in the recording of the Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1 with Dylan, who was recording under the pseudonym Blind Boy Grunt. He also accompanied Dylan on the famous “Banjo Tapes” of January 1963. This version undoubtedly expresses the summit of Dylan’s art in terms of feeling. The duo is musically incredible. The songwriter has mastered his subject perfectly, providing an impressive vocal lead, guitar, and harmonica part (in D). As for Traum, he plays very inspired bluesy guitar, and his vocal harmonies are impeccable. He gives Dylan an irresistible groove, even thought the tempo is slow and, except for their two guitars, only their feet set a very audible rhythm (unless percussion was added by overdubs). With an enigmatic and evocative text, the result is very successful, close to a gospel sound. The song was recorded in four takes. The last take may have been selected for the compilation Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II. Yet in 1996, Happy Traum confided to Manfred Helfert that he remembered recording only one take. Note that on this version, the first verse was not sung.
Since the concert at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on October 30, 1975, Dylan has performed “I Shall Be Released” nearly five hundred times.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
During the 1980s, “I Shall Be Released” became a humanitarian anthem. At the Conspiracy of Hope concert in June 1986, intended to highlight the work of the human rights organization Amnesty International, “I Shall Be Released” was performed by a chorus including Sting, Bono, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and others.
Down In The Flood
Bob Dylan / 2:46
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Happy Traum: guitar / Recording Studio: Columbia Recording Studios / Studio B, New York: September 24, 1971 / Producer: Bob Dylan (?) / Sound Engineers: Doug Pomeroy and P. Darin
Genesis and Lyrics
For this song, originally recorded in 1967, Bob Dylan was inspired by a major theme of the bluesmen of the Mississippi Delta, the recurrent flooding of the Mississippi. Bessie Smith had already sung “Backwater Blues” in 1927, Charley Patton “High Water Everywhere” in 1929, as well as songs by Big Bill Broonzy, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and others. Here the songwriter added a mystical dimension. In the third and final verse, he sings, “It’s gonna be the meanest flood / That anybody’s seen.” It is difficult not to hear echoes of songs such as “When the Ship Comes In” (The Times They Are A-Changin’) and “All Along the Watchtower” (John Wesley Harding). Dylan wrote another song about the end of an era and the rise of a new one.
Production
This song was one of Dylan’s recordings with the Band in 1967 and was released on the 1975 album The Basement Tapes. The result is among one of the best recordings made at Big Pink. The exact title is “Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood).” Dylan rerecorded the song with his friend Happy Traum on September 24, 1971. The songwriter seems to be really inspired by Traum. Dylan sings the blues with conviction, and both guitars complement each other perfectly. A masterful performance, as were all the performances from that session. Two takes were enough to record it. One of the two was chosen for the double LP Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II.
FOR DYLANOLOGISTS
Dylan might have originally written “Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood)” for bluegrass musicians Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, who covered it with other songs on their 1968 album Changin’ Times.
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid
Main Title Theme (Billy)
Cantina Theme (Workin’ For The Law)
Billy 1
Bunkhouse Theme
River Theme
Turkey Chase
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
Final Theme
Billy 4
Billy 7
OUTTAKES
Billy
Under Turkey (instrumental)
Billy Surrenders
And He’s Killed Me Too (instrumental)
Goodbye, Holly
Pecos Blues (instrumental)
Sweet Amarillo
Rock Me Mama
Ride Billy Ride
DATE OF RELEASE
July 13, 1973
on Columbia Records
(REFERENCE KC32460)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid:
An Original Soundtrack
The Album
In 1972, MGM had Sam Peckinpah, one of the masters of the new Western movies in Hollywood, direct Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson were selected to play the respective roles of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid; the script was to be written by Rudy Wurlitzer, a friend of Bob Dylan’s. The movie follows Pat Garrett, a sheriff in New Mexico, as he tries to convince his old friend, the outlaw Billy the Kid, to turn over a new leaf in Mexico. Billy refuses. When he is arrested, he manages to escape on the day of his execution. On the orders of Governor Lew Wallace, Pat Garrett goes out to chase him, ending up in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, on July 14, 1881.
Who could write the music? According to some sources, Kris Kristofferson proposed it should be Bob Dylan, whereas Sam Peckinpah originally thought of country singer Roger Miller. Wurlitzer remembered, “The script was already written when Bob came to see me in my apartment on the Lower East Side of New York… He said that he had always related to Billy the Kid as if he was some kind of reincarnation; it was clear that he was obsessed with the Billy the Kid myth… I called the producer [Gordon Carroll]… and then I wrote the part for Bob off the cuff in New York. We flew down to Durango, Mexico, to see Peckinpah—who had no idea what was up… When I told him I had written a part for Bob Dylan and ‘here he is,’ Peckinpah turned and after a long pause, said to Bob, ‘I’m a big Roger Miller fan myself.’”99 In a nutshell, Dylan was given a minor role in the film on the condition that he would write the soundtrack.
While Dylan made his debut as an actor under the skies of Durango, he composed and recorded the soundtrack, the main theme song (the ballad “Billy”) and its variations. This was good news for the songwriter’s fans, as it was the first record he had worked on since his last single, “George Jackson,” at the end of 1971.
But the songwriter was not a movie soundtrack composer; this was a world that was foreign to him. Jerry Fielding, the usual composer and arranger for Sam Peckinpah, had trouble accepting someone he considered a rock star incapable of writing an orchestra score. Dylan did not give up when Fielding, who had taken on the role of musical director, rejected one of his songs (“Goodbye, Holly”): he then wrote several theme songs and finally succeeded. He even came out on top by composing “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” one of his best-kn
own songs.
The Recording
Only three sessions were spent on the soundtrack. During the first one, on January 20, 1973, Dylan used CBS Discos Studios in Mexico, which had been created via Columbia Records. Only the song “Billy 4” came out of that session.
The two other sessions, during which Dylan recorded the rest of the soundtrack, were in February (exact dates unknown) in Burbank Studios near Los Angeles. These studios, which were originally NBC Studios, had been functional since 1955. Many movies and television shows were produced there, such as Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special that celebrated the great return of the King.
Some of the musicians were old friends of Bob’s: Bruce Langhorne (who had last played with Dylan on Bringing It All Back Home), Russ Kunkel, and Jim Keltner. Some of the others included were Roger McGuinn (the Byrds) on guitar, Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the MG’s) on bass, and Byron Berline (the Rolling Stones, the Flying Burrito Brothers) on fiddle. The other musicians are detailed on each song of the album.
A Failure and a Success